Europe furious, 'shocked' by report of U.S. spying
By Josh Levs
European officials reacted with fury Sunday after a report that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on EU offices.
The European Union warned that if the report is accurate, it will have tremendous repercussions.
"I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations," European Parliament President Martin Schulz said in a statement. "If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations. On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the U.S. authorities with regard to these allegations."
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Out of precaution, Marines on ready to go to Egypt to protect U.S. Embassy, citizens
By Barbara Starr
U.S. Marines stationed in southern Europe have been put on alert as a precaution in advance of expected large demonstrations and potential unrest in Egypt this weekend, CNN has learned.
About 200 combat capable Marines in Sigonella, Italy, and Moron, Spain, have been told to be ready to be airborne within 60 minutes of getting orders to deploy, according to two administration officials.
Source: Justice Dept. investigates former vice chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff
By Barbara Starr
The former vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff is under investigation by the Justice Department regarding material in a book by David Sanger, a correspondent for The New York Times, a source directly familiar with the situation said Thursday.
The source could not confirm that the investigation involving Retired Marine Gen. James Cartwright is specifically about the Stuxnet computer virus, which Sanger writes about in his 2013 book "Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power."
NBC News reported Thursday, citing legal sources, that Cartwright has been told he's under investigation for allegedly leaking classified information about Stuxnet, a complex virus that infected computers in Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010.
That leak was one of a series of national security-related leaks last year and had details of how the United States and Israel were behind the Stuxnet attack.
FULL STORYAirport stakeout: Hunting Snowden
By Jim Boulden, reporting from Sheremetyevo International Airport
My first morning at Moscow Airport's Terminal E consisted of an indescribable burger at Burger King. We are thinking of going to one of two TGI Friday's for dinner in Terminal D.
There is always Costa Coffee for tomorrow morning if I want to walk the half mile or so from my pod hotel room.
I'm on day two of my time inside Moscow's international transfer terminals. They are long, clean, stuffed with shops and not stuffed with very many people.
The person I have come to look for is Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency computer contractor who spilled details of U.S. surveillance programs to reporters.
Editor's note: CNN correspondent Jim Boulden joins the hunt for the NSA leaker Edward Snowden, taking over from CNN's John Defterios inside Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport where the man the NSA can't find is widely believed to be staying.
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As Snowden seeks asylum, U.S. bides its time
By Elise Labott and Matt Smith
The United States is biding its time in its effort to get fugitive leaker Edward Snowden delivered to its custody, hoping that Russia wearies of him and Ecuador decides against granting him asylum, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Snowden, the former National Security Agency computer contractor who exposed details of U.S. surveillance programs, faces espionage charges if shipped back home. He is currently cooling his heels at Moscow's international airport, where he arrived Sunday from Hong Kong.
"Time is our friend," one senior administration official told CNN. "The Russians now just want him gone, and I'm not sure if they care at this point if he goes to a country that might be inclined to send him back."
The State Department revoked Snowden's passport after charges were brought last week. Officials in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory, said it needed more information before it could act on a U.S. request to hold him there. WikiLeaks said Snowden flew out of Hong Kong on refugee papers issued by Ecuador, where he has requested asylum, but Ecuador's deputy foreign minister said Wednesday that his country had provided him no documents.
US disputes Hong Kong claims about Snowden paperwork problems
By Carol Cratty, CNN Senior Producer
Hong Kong authorities contacted the U.S. government late last week asking for clarification of the name on the paperwork requesting a provisional arrest warrant for Edward Snowden.
Hong Kong's Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen told reporters Tuesday night that Hong Kong's Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen said some documents referred to an Edward James Snowden, but Hong Kong immigration records said Joseph was the middle name listed in Snowden's passport. Other documents only referred to Edward J. Snowden. Yuen said that confusion plus the fact the documents didn't list a passport number for Snowden slowed down the process of considering whether to grant an arrest warrant.
Justice Department statement acknowledged Hong Kong asked for clarification regarding the name but called it an excuse.
"The true motive of the letter from Hong Kong authorities is revealed by its request for the supposed 'clarification' of Mr. Snowden's identity with regard to his middle name," said the statement, which also noted photos and videos of Snowden were widely carried by media outlets. "That Hong Kong would ask for more information about his identity demonstrates that it was simply trying to create a pretext for not acting on the provisional arrest request.”
Military court overturns Marine's Iraq murder conviction
By CNN's Greg Clary
The military's equivalent of the Supreme Court overturned the conviction Wednesday of a Marine found guilty of murdering a civilian during the Iraq war, saying he was interrogated after asking for a lawyer.
A court originally sentenced Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III to 15 years in prison for the murder of 52-year-old Hashim Awad in April of 2006.
Prosecutors said Hutchins, who led a Marine squad that dragged Awad from his home, shot him in the face several times and then placed a shovel and AK-47 near his body to make it appear he was an insurgent burying roadside bombs.
New York man admits planning to join Yemen terror group
By CNN's Carol Cratty
A New York man admitted trying to travel to Yemen to join the terror group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to newly unsealed court documents.
Justin Kaliebe, 18, was arrested on January 21 at John F. Kennedy Airport as he tried to board a plan for Oman with plans to travel from there to Yemen. Less than a month later Kaliebe pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
EXCLUSIVE: Amanpour and Robert Gates
The former head of both the CIA and Pentagon, Robert Gates, weighed in on the events surrounding fugitive leaker Edward Snowden in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
“If you can’t ultimately trust people then you’re in real trouble,” Gates told Amanpour. “And the consequence of that is you will have a narrowing and a narrowing of the information that’s made available to people for analysis, and for decision making, as people try to protect that information. And you will be back in the same kind of situation that we apparently had prior to 9/11, where you don’t have the ability for people with the broad enough access to connect the dots.”
Back to Iraq? Dempsey floats idea of sending trainers as Syria's war spills over
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
In a move that could send small numbers of U.S. military trainers back to Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has asked his top Middle East commander to look at ways the United States could boost military sales, assistance and training in that country as well as in Lebanon and Jordan as Syria's civil war continues to affect its neighbors.
Any deployment of U.S. forces would have to have those countries' approval, and so far there is no indication that Iraq or Lebanon would agree to accept U.S. troops.
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